Odette Morton
Odette Morton was a socialite and dance show competitor featured in "A Dance With Death". The wealthy bad-girl heiress was an orphan. She and her brother Paul were raised by their grandfather, the super-rich Graham Morton. Reality TV Odette had become "America's sweetheart" by the time she appeared on A Night of Dance. She was the epitome of the spoiled rich brat, enjoying a life of free-wheeling carousing. However, a brush with death a year before had changed her greatly. After surviving a train derailment, Odette had taken a new look at her life and reformed herself. Eventually, she had taken dance classes, culminating in her appearance on the reality TV show. Tragedy struck when she was found dead in her dressing room during the taping of the show. The Reality More than a year before, Odette's party girl ways had been in full swing. However, her lifestyle came with its chores: obligations and responsibilities, including working community service hours imposed on her by the courts. While relatively minor, Odette wasn't even inclined to pay that much of a price for her fun. When she stumbled upon a stripper who bore a remarkable resemblance to herself, she hatched a plan. She hired the stripper, Barbra Landau, to become her body double, even paying for plastic surgery to ensure that the resemblance was perfect. She not only looked just like Odette-- she had been trained to impersonate her by Odette herself. This new "Faux-dette" would do the time for Odette's crimes. The plan worked perfectly until Barbra and Odette were together on a train for that fateful derailment. Odette was killed in the accident, and Barbra, who survived, saw her chance. She swapped identifications and literally stepped into her erstwhile employer's shoes. The more responsible girl who emerged from the wreck with the tale of redemption was actually Barbra. The substitution was not perfect. Unlike Odette, Barbra had diabetes, and eventually people discovered her shooting up what they thought were drugs. Barbra had paid lavish bribes to ensure their silence, but her business manager, Samuel Lynchberg, noticed the payments and confronted her. Even as he discovered her secret, she discovered the secret he had shared with Odette. So Lynchberg killed Barbra at the TV studio. Odette's Dark Secret Odette had been involved with Lynchberg sexually and planned on getting married. When her grandfather found out, he had threatened to cut Odette off. Lynchberg knew that he had no chance of staying with his beloved if she didn't have the money to fuel her bon vivant lifestyle. The two conspired to kill Graham Morton. Odette staged the distraction -- a kitchen fire -- to draw the butler downstairs and away from her napping grandfather, while Lynchberg smothered him with a pillow. Once the old man was dead, Odette inherited his fortune. She had no further use for Lynchberg, so she dumped him. Although he realized that he had been used, he could hardly go to the authorities without revealing his own part in the plot. So he stayed silent and now managed her affairs as he had her grandfather's. Morton, Odette Morton, Odette Morton, Odette Morton, Odette Morton, Odette